The Messiah and the Church

Pope Francis to beatify ‘smiling pope’ John Paul I in September 2022 By Catholic News Agency on Dec 23, 2021 11:53 am Pope John Paul I in an undated file photo. / Vatican Media/CNA. Vatican City, Dec 23, 2021 / 09:53 am (CNA). Pope Francis will beatify the “smiling pope” John Paul I on Sept. 4, 2022.Vatican News, the website overseen by the Vatican’s Dicastery... [...] Read in browser » Pope Francis exhorts curia on communion, diversity, and synodality By Christopher R. Altieri on Dec 23, 2021 11:39 am Pope Francis gave a speech to the high officials of the Roman curia on Thursday, and something – it’s safe to say – got lost in translation, but not the core of the message, which [...] Read in browser » How Christmas changed the world — and still can today By Dr. R. Jared Staudt on Dec 23, 2021 03:15 am The world does not think like God. If we were to plan how to stage the most important moment in history, it might involve a great military victory or a stunning natural occurrence that would [...] Read in browser » UC-Irvine fires Catholic ethicist who filed ‘natural immunity’ challenge to COVID-19 vaccine mandate By Catholic News Agency on Dec 22, 2021 06:00 am Aaron Kheriaty, a Catholic psychiatrist and medical ethicist. / Courtesy of Aaron Kheriaty Boston, Mass., Dec 22, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA). A Catholic psychiatrist and medical ethicist who is suing the University of California for denying him a na... [...] Read in browser » The sacred earthiness of Christmas By George Weigel on Dec 22, 2021 03:03 am ROME. A massive, 16-volume Lives of the Saints, first published between 1872 and 1877, informs me that, here in the Eternal City, the feast of Christmas first became a celebration distinct from the ancient feast [...] Read in browser » Catholics and Race in American History By Kevin Schmiesing on Dec 22, 2021 12:37 am In recent years, controversies over police shootings and school curricula have brought racial tensions once again to the forefront of American consciousness. Astute Catholics have analyzed Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) [...] Read in browser » What are the laity supposed to be? By Bishop Robert Barron on Dec 21, 2021 12:09 pm Back in the 1950s, Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, began to articulate a vision that was largely ratified at the Second Vatican Council. She said that the prevailing notion of a [...] Read in browser » Cardinal Turkson: Pope Francis will decide if I continue to lead Vatican dicastery By Catholic News Agency on Dec 21, 2021 08:15 am Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, at a Vatican press conference July 7, 2020. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Vatican City, Dec 21, 2021 / 06:15 am (CNA). Cardinal Peter Turkson told journalists on ... [...] Read in browser » Bringing the wisdom of Saint Peter Canisius to your Christmas party By Dawn Beutner on Dec 21, 2021 12:00 am Saint Peter Canisius, SJ (1521-1597) was a Dutch priest who lived in the sixteenth century and was one of the first members of the Jesuit order. He lived a blameless and holy personal life, preached [...] Read in browser » More curial moves and machinations By Christopher R. Altieri on Dec 20, 2021 09:07 pm Pope Francis may be getting ready to pull up the curtain on his shiny new curial reform. It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve been promised before – several times – that the draft [...] Read in browser » Forgiven and Free: Advent and Confession By Fr. Charles Fox on Dec 20, 2021 05:48 pm The Season of Advent challenges us to “prepare the way of the Lord” and to “make straight his paths.” The Sacrament of Penance is especially important as a way to bring order into our hearts [...] Read in browser » Pro-life candidate defeated by pro-abortion rival Gabriel Boric in Chile’s presidential election By Catholic News Agency on Dec 20, 2021 02:00 pm

Gabriel Boric, who won the 2021 Chilean presidential election, speaks after a candidates' debate, Oct. 10, 2021. / Mediabanco Agencia via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Santiago, Chile, Dec 20, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

José Antonio Kast, a lawyer and pro-life Catholic politician, conceded defeat Dec. 19 to leftist candidate Gabriel Boric, a proponent of elective abortion, in Chile’s runoff presidential election.

“I just spoke with Gabriel Boric and congratulated him on his great victory. As of today he is the President-elect of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration. Chile is always first,” Kast, of the Christian Social Front, wrote on Twitter.

With 98.76% of the votes counted, Boric led with 55.85% compared to 44.15% for Kast, a difference of almost 11 points.

During his campaign, Kast, 55, proposed different strategies to protect life from conception to natural death, to reinforce the preferential right of parents to educate their children, and to recognize the culture and identity of indigenous people.

In his campaign, Boric, of the Apruebo Dignidad alliance, promised to incorporate a comprehensive feminist perspective, to implement such policies as "legal, free and safe abortion on demand," and changes to the gender identity law.

Boric is 35 years old, the minimum age to run for president. He is single and studied law at the University of Chile, but did not receive a degree.

As president of the Student Center of the Faculty of Law, he led the takeover of one of the university buildings to demand the departure of the dean at that time.

In 2011, he became spokesman for the Chilean Student Confederation during student protests in which thousands of young people took to the streets demanding educational reforms.

Boric is in his second term as a representative in the Chamber of Deputies and during  the civil unrest of 2019 he signed the "Agreement for Peace" to accept the demands of citizens regarding the lack of public policies for a more decent life, which led to the Constitutional Convention now working on a new constitution.

Before the presidential election, the Standing Committee of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference issued a statement Dec. 16 offering their prayers for whomever would be the next president, calling on him to "govern for all Chileans, seeking paths of dialogue, agreement, justice and fraternity.”

The Standing Committee called on both candidates to "honor democratic values, accept the decision of the citizens and to work together from their place, to build a political community whose soul is social charity.” 

“As Christmas approaches, we invite you to pray for the unity of our country, contemplating God with us who assumes our human condition so we may live as brothers. May the song that resounds these days: 'Glory to God in heaven and on earth peace to the men loved by Him' encourage us in the challenge of being peacemakers” the Standing Committee concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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On The Winter Feast

By Dale Ahlquist on Dec 19, 2021 11:27 pm
Have you ever heard the smug criticism that Christmas is really a Pagan festival? While it is usually uttered with the air of being a devastating dismissal of Christianity, I’m not sure what actual point [...]
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Trying to make some sense of the responsa ad dubia

By Christopher R. Altieri on Dec 19, 2021 05:49 pm
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) has published a set of responsa ad dubia regarding Pope Francis’s recent Apostolic Letter, Traditionis custodes. Just in time for Christmas. In case [...]
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Western cultural suicide as apostasy

By Dr. Edward Feser on Dec 19, 2021 01:03 am
In his classic book Suicide of the West, James Burnham famously characterized liberalism as “the ideology of Western suicide.”  I’ve been meaning for some time to write up an essay on the book.  This isn’t it.  [...]
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Opinion: Let a thousand rites bloom and flourish!

By Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille on Dec 18, 2021 10:58 pm
This month marks the eleventh anniversary of the death of my beloved spiritual father, Archpriest Robert Anderson of blessed memory. I first met him in the summer of 2001 in Ukraine where we had both [...]
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Does Traditionis Custodes pass Liturgical History 101 ?

By Dom Alcuin Reid on Dec 18, 2021 07:00 pm
Editor’s note: This Opinion essay was originally posted on August 6, 2021, and is reposted in light of today’s news that the Vatican has issued “further strict guidelines on the celebration of the Traditional Latin [...]
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Traditionis custodes: Vatican further tightens restrictions on Traditional Latin Mass

By Catholic News Agency on Dec 18, 2021 06:36 am
Priest celebrating the traditional Latin Mass at the church of St Pancratius, Rome / Thoom/Shutterstock Vatican City, Dec 18, 2021 / 04:36 am (CNA). The Vatican issued Saturday further strict guidelines on the celebration of the Traditional Lat... [...]
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Singing through Advent, in praise of the Mother of the Redeemer

By Peter M.J. Stravinskas on Dec 17, 2021 09:55 pm
The liturgy for the Fourth Sunday of Advent has a distinctly Marian dimension to it – and rightly so. May she intercede for us, that we may live the remainder of Advent 2021 as fully [..]
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Cardinal Pell to Becciu: What was that $2M payment for?

By Catholic News Agency on Dec 17, 2021 06:10 pm
Cardinal George Pell gives an interview to EWTN News in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 9, 2020. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. / null Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 17, 2021 / 16:10 pm (CNA). Cardinal George Pell says that he does not harbor any ill will tow... [...]
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What is at stake in the Vatican’s “maxi-trial”

By Christopher R. Altieri on Dec 17, 2021 05:17 pm
Al amigo, todo; al enemigo, ni justicia. [“To the friend, everything. To the enemy, not even justice!”] That last is an expression found on the lips of Argentina’s long-time ruler, Juan Peron. It also led [...]
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The Virgin Mary bore the King and the Kingdom, the Messiah and the Church

By Carl E. Olson on Dec 17, 2021 05:00 pm
Readings: • Mi 5:1-4a • Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 • Heb 10:5-10 • Lk 1:39-45 St. Augustine, in his treatise, “On Holy Virginity,” made this profound, even startling, statement: “Thus also her nearness as a [...]
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“The Best Books I Read in 2021”

By CWR Contributors on Dec 17, 2021 10:03 am
Dear Readers, “Of making many books,” wrote the author of Ecclesiastes (as he produced, yes, a book), “there is no end” (Eccl 12:12). He says nothing at all, however, about the moving of many books.